This species can be found in humid premontane areas or marginally in the lower montane zone of the Cordillera Central and Cordillera de Talamanca of Costa Rica and western Panama, from 1,200-1,804m asl (Savage 2002).

Habitat and Ecology

It inhabits bromeliads in humid montane forest. Breeding and larval development takes place in the bromeliads (phytotelmic species), with eggs laid on the outside leaves above the waterline in the bromeliad cups (Savage 2002). Populations can persist outside of forest where suitable trees with bromeliads remain, for instance within some pastures (Federico Bolaños pers. comm.).

Population

The available evidence suggests that Costa Rican populations are apparently stable in suitable habitat, and have not had the confirmed declines exhibited in many other montane species (Federico Bolaños pers. comm.), (although this observation may be linked to the difficulty in recording densities of this canopy species, Karen Lips pers. comm, 2007). As of 2007, there is little new information on the status of Panamanian populations (Roberto Ibáñez pers. comm., 2007).

Population Trend

Decreasing

Major Threats

The threats to this species are not well known, but in Panama they likely include general habitat loss as a result of logging, human settlement, and some agricultural activities. There are no threats to this species in Costa Rica.

Conservation Actions

This species is known from a number of protected areas, including Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo.

Taxonomic Notes

This species was previously included in the genus Hyla but has recently been moved to the new genus Isthmohyla (Faivovich et al. 2005).